Anna Liu 2/13/20 - 2/14/20 Period 2 - Blog #2

2/13/20 - 2/14/20 

Anna Liu Period 2

Aim: How does Grendel's conversation with the Dragon illuminate the philosophical theory of nihilism and simultaneously define Grendel's purpose?

Do now:

1. Why does the dragon use a ridiculous term to explain everything? 

• He uses absurd terms to allude to absurdism which is the belief that the universe is chaotic not orderly. He tells Grendel to not listen to the shaper too much and instead he should focus on bigger things like his existence.

2. How does Grendel describe the voice of the Dragon? Why? 

• He describes it to be almost condescending and well as all knowing and wise. He is sort of a mentor character in this story to Grendel, giving advice even though he believes the world is pointless in the grand scheme of time.

3. What physical item(s) is/are the only thing(s) the Dragon seems to care about?

• The Dragon only seems to care about his treasure

4. What elements of time can the Dragon “see”?

• The Dragon can "see" time at a grand scale. He's seen what the future is like, he knows of how vast the future will be and he knows he can not interfere nor can he change anything; because of this, he believes time is just a block and there's no answer to Grendel's question "why" in the grand scheme of things.

5. How does the Dragon describe the role of the shaper?

• The Dragon describes the role of the shaper as someone who blinds the other humans (ironic cuz hes blind) with lies on how heroic their actions were when the truth is not as desirable. The shaper exists to tell the story of how united people can take down evil

Notes:

The dragon represents nihilism

When people began to doubt God, themselves and the things they did, the Shaper would come in with an otherworldly aura and reassures them of Heaven's love for them and serves as a sedative for the people to distract from their worries.

In the Book of Job, God shows Job the whole universe and tells him only he can fathom it all.  The dragon who understands the universe is doing the same to Grendel.

To get to the dragon, Grendel had to "make his mind a blank" and "fell, sank away like a stone through earth and sea". The dragon is a merely a figment of his imagination and is the embodiment of Grendel's questions and wonders because after poetry tore him in half, metaphorically, he starts to question life and his purpose in it (existentialism)

The Dragon represents timeliness. He is the past, present, and future at the same time. In nihilism, everything is pointless so you can choose to follow one of two paths: give up on the world because what's the point (sit on gold), or do whatever you want because you only live once (continue scaring the humans).

What does Grendel learn about the humans and god while visiting the dragon?

Humans are nearsighted, can’t look into the past or future.

Chapter 5 Notes:

Symbol: Leo (lions) king of the animal kingdom = Dragons (king of the mythical creatures

Philosophy: nihilism (the belief in nothingness)

Structure: Grendel goes to the Underworld for advice and knowledge, much as Odysseus goes to the Underworld to seek information from Tiresias. He emerges armed with despair. The Dragon has omniscience but offers Grendel no redeeming vision of the world. His only advice? Seek out gold and sit on it. This approach suggests that only material goods give meaning to life.

The black sun: Grendel sees deeply into the dragon's eye and sees nothing, a void.

The dragon is golden and fiery as a lion.

The dragon suggests that the quest for meaning ends in nothingness because nothing will remain except a silent universe. This anticipates the discovery of matter speeding up after the "bang" and the universe stretching out to nothingness.

He understands time and space and the connectedness of all.

Symbolism of the Dragon:

Sits in piles of gold and treasure = miserly

Gold and Treasures = lost from history, relics of non-existence

Omniscient = sees the past, future and present and its all the same monstrosity (for both Gredel and the Dragon) = not really monstrous but perception creates it to create purpose

Moving towards the dragon is as much a psychological journey as it is a physical one.

"Ridiculous, hairy creature torn apart by poetry" After conversing with the Dragon  what are we to assume about Grendel's statement?

• The dragon symbolizes nihilism, life is pointless, he explains his reasoning to Grendel but knows he'll have to mature on his own.
• Humans need evil in order to bond and create unity, the dragon and Grendel will serve as what they bond over. 
• Grendel is falling down in life and when he finds the only thing he can communicate with and it tells him to give up.
• The dragon represents Satan, not inherently evil but feeds Grendel questions to ask about his life. (Kermit meme)
• He tempts Grendel through his insecurities

Monism: The doctrine that the person consists of only a single substance, or that there is no crucial difference between mental and physical events or properties 

How does this elucidate the fear of "what is the meaning of life"?

• You are taught what innate reasons you choose to live for. Ideals for living are all taught
• We give each other's a purpose, a fake reality, motivation

How does the Dragon's presence shape your own sense of thought?

• The gold for the dragon is something to ensure that the people will come back to him
• Dragon represents greed, people come to him seeking gold
• The dragon represents timeliness, transcending time means nothing without a purpose to life.

Student reflection:

In studying this chapter, I first thought it was about Grendel flat out visiting a dragon, being told that life is meaningless and then advised to seek out some gold and sit upon it. I have learned that in actuality, the dragon represents much more than that. It represents timeliness, greed and nihilism. I have learned that without the guidance of a mentor like figure we wouldn't have the same values or motives as we do now because we are taught them. Grendel however does not have someone like that so he is learning and going through an existential crisis because he was torn apart by poetry. We can relate this to our world because as people we have questions about our world. That is what existentialism is all about and without motivation, what purpose do we really have in the grand scheme of things? I will use this information as now it's changed my perspective on how to view morals and motivation as well as how my time should be spent making the most of my time.